Happy 4th of July! It’s been a great weekend so far and I just love the extra day. I hope you are all having a nice holiday if you get the time off. Chris and I have been watching the Tour de France and it was great to see an American win today’s stage 🙂 Go Farrar! I had my own little crash boom bang this weekend and I don’t mean fireworks! . . . (more…)
July 4, 2011
August 29, 2010
Grilled Oroweat ‘Pizza’ Thins
These are the coolest pieces of bread to hit the market and they are very versatile to use for all sorts of quick recipes. While the ingredients list is a little longer than I’d like, they are only 100 kcals, have 5 g of filling fiber, and taste great. As a Foodbuzz tastemaker I was sent a few packs to review and share my favorite grilling recipe with them! Soooo here goes (more…)
April 2, 2010
ahhh friday
Happy Good Friday! Nothing too stellar to report here, but boy I’m glad it’s Friday. With being out of town for the SCAN Symposium and going right back to work, it’s hard to catch back up. I’ll survive, but it will be nice to get some wash, errands and cleaning done this weekend hopefully 🙂
After work I finally got the chance to go grocery shopping, yessss! Chris was complaining there was nothing to eat and I was searching through the freezer and cupboards trying to scrounge up something for us the last few days. Pizza was definitely not on the menu as Chris ordered 2 giant pizzas that he ate off of the entire time I was gone! hehe ah men, they can’t live without us, eh? Nah, Chris is a pretty good cook, just working a lot and going to school 😉 (more…)
January 26, 2010
multitasking
Thank you for all your kind words on the site! I’m super excited and happy you guys enjoy it. If you haven’t yet, be sure to enter my giveaway for some Mighty Leaf tea and an Anthro mug here. I first thought I gave the wrong feed address, but it seems that both of the ones below will work when added to your feed. Please let me know if it’s not updating in your reader so I can remedy. I’m a computer retard!
http://eatingrd.com/?feed=rss2
http://feeds.feedburner.com/eatingrd
I am having the darndest time getting up in the morning lately! ugh, 5am is just too darn early and when the alarm goes off I moan and groan wishing I could just stop time for a few more hours. I’ve always had this fascination with wanting to be able to stop time. Wouldn’t that be awesome? ha, in the mean time I’ll keep wishing for that day and get my butt out of bed! I think it does have a lot to do with not getting to bed till close to 11pm, which I need to fix.
I’ve been trying to get (more…)
January 12, 2010
learning to un-plan
Last night was a wonderful example of good things that can happen when I don’t plan all the time! Chris invited his dad and step mom over for dinner last night. We were going to try to make some seared tuna that his step mom had given to us, but it wasn’t even close to being defrosted since we took it out of the freezer too late. Ok, move to plan B. . .
I made some lemony tofu pesto pasta the night before on Friday thinking I was going to take it over to a friend’s house for a little pot luck. Chris ended up getting home pretty late from a meeting, and their house was all the way across town, so I decided to skip it to be able to wake for the gym the next morning (I hadn’t made it to the gym all week so I was getting a little antsy and felt the need).
So . . . I thought I’ll just heat up that pesto pasta and pair it with some balsamic marinated chicken for tonight! ‘That will work, but I don’t really have any other stuff, what if they won’t like it that much? It has tomatoes in it and Chris’ dad hates tomatoes.’ Then Chris invited two other friends to come over last minute. ‘Wait! I haven’t planned for this, I need to have things all situated, more appetizers, need to clean, do wash, aaaaahhh!’ This was my inner self talking and feeling a bit out of the comfort zone lol But I humbly agreed and hoped we would have enough food and the day old pasta would be ‘good’ enough for my guests. I want them to really enjoy my food and come back!
Turns out the dinner party went pretty darn well! I mean the pasta wasn’t perfect, got a little cold and was slightly not as bright green as the day before, but it tasted pretty darn good. That’s all that mostly matters, right? Chris BBQ’d the chicken and it was a little chewy, but it was still pretty tasty. I had other munchies like cheese and crackers, along with pretzels and nuts, but I think people secretly wanted to have a little more food. I should have made something like a salad, but we ended up making smores and having some vanilla ice cream with a drizzling of cabernet (you have to try this!), so that worked out. Who doesn’t like a little dessert? Sorry no picture 🙁
We ended up going through 4 bottles of wine!! And everything’s better with a little wine, right? lol We also played a fun game of Cranium into the night. I love this game, but I am terrible at it lol
Overall success! Should I have worried so much about not having everything perfectly mapped out? No, it’s really not that big of a deal, but you know that is something that I’m working on and when something like this happens on a whim it moves me forward in the right direction 🙂 It’s weird because sometimes I will just do things spontaneously that I normally wouldn’t and it’s really cool, but other times I think about it too much and that’s when I get into a funk. I say just go for it, whatever it may be!
Home Goods is the best for fun, cheap serving bowls and all kinds of other stuff for the home . . .
So here is the recipe for lemony tofu pesto pasta. It’s a great dish for at least 6 people as a side. And hey, it’s even not bad the next day! It won’t be as bright green, but it’s pretty darn tasty in my opinion 🙂
This time around, in addition to the version above . . .
- I used two lemons because the ones I had were pretty small
- added 1/2 an avocado to the sauce to make it extra luscious.
- cubed some fontina cheese to add in at the end to get slightly melt-y
- instead of home made linguini, I used boxed farfalle pasta, and you can use any kind you like really
- I had about 1/2 cup of pesto leftover to use in other things like sandwiches, yum!
For the chicken I used a really simple, but flavorful balsamic marinade that gets really sweet and slightly tangy. In a bag, along with about 1.25 pounds of chicken breasts, you add:
- balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and that’s it!
- You can also reserve the marinade, reduce it down slowly and baste the chicken with it and serve it on the side as a drizzle sauce.
So I say let’s not plan for once, just go out there and do anything spontaneous! Who’s with me?
What have you done today that was spontaneous and fun?
July 22, 2009
not so perfect?
This article from Jessica Setnick’s Eating Disorder’s Boot Camp monthly newsletter really struck a chord in myself and I would like to share it with you. Please check out her site, she has a great monthly newsletter you can subscribe to, as well as many other great resources. I believe her idea of perfection can not only apply to eating disorders, but to life in general. I am a perfectionist for sure and I’m still trying to tone it down and just accept the fact that it’s okay to not be absolutely perfect in everything or compare yourself to others. We can’t keep thinking perfection is the only way because we are keeping true happiness from ourselves. It’s a very interesting article, and while it’s not in it’s entirety here (you can find it on her website above), I believe these paragraphs are the most moving. Let me know what you think!
Martha Beck wrote the perfectionist credo that I repeat in my practice at least once a day: “If I do everything right, then everyone will like me, I will always be happy, and everything will turn out the way that I planned.” (This is not a direct quote, please forgive me Martha.) The perfectionist credo does not in any way assure perfection. It does not guide us to perfect actions or thoughts or outcomes. But it does deceive us that perfection is possible, and therefore when we perform at an ordinary or even exceptional level, we are not good enough, since we didn’t “do our best.”
Now I have a real issue with the whole “Do your best” concept, because some situations don’t warrant our best. If my best effort at something meaningless takes a lot of time and energy, then why on earth would I want to do my best? Just to say I did? I would much rather give a half-baked effort to things that are minor (like blow-drying my hair or peeling an orange) and save my “best” energy for things like raising my stepkids and recycling. But EVEN THE THINGS FOR WHICH WE DO OUR BEST do not always turn out the way we were expecting. I can recycle all day long and still not save the planet. I can give those kids all the love I have and still not know if they’ll be happy. And I’m not sure I want that much responsibility – that everything I do must be the best or else I am a failure.
The problem is that the perfectionist credo is insidious. Even though I can accept my semi-best at peeling an orange, if nobody eats the orange that I peeled, maybe it’s because I didn’t try hard enough to peel it attractively. If Peyton and Derek aren’t the happiest kids on the block, maybe it’s because I told them to turn off the tv. Even though I don’t want this much power, I prefer an explanation of the world that puts me in control. That way, instead of realizing things might not go my way AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!!!! I can tell myself that things didn’t turn out right THIS TIME, but since I have identified myself as the weak link, I can prevent this bad outcome next time by being and doing better. Whether or not I do my best, if the outcome is not what I was expecting, I can take away that I wasn’t good ENOUGH, or didn’t try hard ENOUGH. The perfectionist credo in reverse says that anytime that things go wrong, anytime someone doesn’t like me, or anytime I’m not feeling happy, IT IS MY FAULT because the only explanation is that I wasn’t perfect. Because if I was, I would be happy, liked, and get expected outcomes. Not to mention that if I do my best and STILL get a tragic outcome, THERE IS NOTHING AT ALL I CAN DO – I AM DOOMED! And that is completely unacceptable. Better to not do my best, or not do anything at all, rather than find out even my best isn’t good.
My patients are shocked to hear that perfectionism isn’t people who are perfect, it is people who are afraid of messing up so they do nothing at all. It is people who don’t study till the last minute so that if they don’t get a good grade, they can say, “I could have done better if I had tried.” Perfectionism is a defense mechanism for explaining the world for people who don’t know how to handle “bad” feelings.
If I eat the perfect foods, then I will never gain weight. If I ever gain weight, then I have eaten something wrong. This is the perfectionism of the patient who weighs many times a day to see how each and every food is reflected on the scale.
If I eat the perfect foods, then I will never feel guilty. If I ever feel guilty, I must choose a food to blame, and never eat that food. If I do eat that food, I will feel guilty. And if I don’t eat that food, but feel guilty anyway, I will need to find another food to blame and promise myself never to eat. This is the perfectionism of the patient who has eliminated dozens of foods, yet binges on the very same foods that are “bad.”
If I always look perfect, then I will always have friends. Since I am feeling lonely, it proves that I don’t look good enough. This is the perfectionism of the patient who is already underweight but insists on losing more.
If I were good enough, then my parents wouldn’t fight, my mother wouldn’t have cancer, my husband wouldn’t be having an affair, my children would be in college, my bank account would be full, and so on and so on ad infinitum. The patients we see who are seeking perfection are trying to explain why their lives feel so wrong. But they’re only wrong compared to what they were expecting. No one that I know of has a guarantee in life that things will go well, or even feel good. But the culture we have that sells looks and perfection as keys to happiness gives the impression that these attributes are within our control. Instead of understanding that feelings are chemical reactions, and processes beyond our conscious control, we prefer to believe that we can orchestrate a happy life by achieving perfection – in grades, in our families, in the cleanliness of our homes. We can’t achieve perfection, I am 100% sure, but believing it exists, and that those who have reached it are happy is a terrible trick that we play on ourselves.
As a dietitian, I am constantly explaining that there is no perfect way of eating that will always fill your stomach the exact right amount, there is no perfect weight that will make you fit all the clothes that you admire in the magazines, and there is no perfect you that will snag you the perfect mate. I once read a book on careers that said the game is already over – it is too late for everyone to like you – there are people out there who don’t like you for reasons completely beyond your control. This concept felt so freeing, although I admit I have had to relearn it again and again in my life.
-Jessica Setnick, MS, RD/LD, CSSD
Wow, kinda makes you think, right? I know I don’t usually get so deep on my blog, but I thought this was fitting and an important topic to discuss and just think about. I have to say that I think even the blog world is striving for perfection sometimes? I love all the foodie blogs out there because it’s so interesting to see what others are doing, eating (yum!), achieving. I miss it terribly when I can’t look and I just love the community because everyone is so nice and thoughtful. But, sometimes it gets me thinking, wow, my blog sucks, I need to do this, I can’t do that, I don’t know how to do that, I need more traffic, I need to blog more, blah blah blah. And I just have to step back and realize that this is what I love to do and I can’t think like that. Bad energy!
I’ve been a pretty serious dancer since I was 8, and always want to do better, strive harder (I was never the best mind you and never portrayed this at all, but secretly loved the thrill of competition and performing). While I don’t dance as much now, I’ve moved on to other goals to tackle, including learning more about photography and getting better at road cycling (expensive much?). Sometimes my perfectionist mind gets the best of me and I think way too much. This is just a general thing that tends to happen in my life and there is a fine line between perfection that is helpful and perfection that is destructive. What will others think if I make a mistake? Where is my life/career going? Why am I not better? Need a perfectly cleaned house, perfect mate, perfect food and on and on lol. It will get there, everything doesn’t have to be set yet. Easier said then done, eh? I think this ‘let it go’ mantra should be applied to life in general in so many ways, and I’m still working on this throughout my own 🙂 Whew! I was kind of nervous submitting this post really, and what you all will think.
On a lighter note, I also have a recipe for you! Another take on quinoa-stuffed bell-peppers . . . kind of golden around the edges, filling oozing out, toppling over, not so perfect but once you take a bite, it’s bright with flavor and oh so yummy! (Had to throw that in there!)
Pesto-Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
- 3-4 bell peppers, sliced in half and seeds/ribs removed
- 16 oz cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and extra juice squeezed out (I used the heirloom ones from TJ’s)
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken or veggie broth
- 1/3-1/2 cup of lemon pesto (depending on your liking, see recipe below)
- good shake of all-purpose seasoning like Mrs. Dash
- 1 inch knob of herbed goat cheese
- 8 oz of fresh mozzarella balls, sliced in half
Preheat oven to 400 F. Prep bell peppers and place in baking dish. Sauté the tomatoes in a little olive oil until slightly charred (you could also roast them in the oven). Remove from pan and place in a large bowl.
Add the quinoa to the pan and toast for 1 minute; add broth, cover and cook about 15-20 minutes until broth is absorbed. Pour into bowl with the maters.
Add the pesto, goat cheese and seasonings to the bowl and mix well. When the mixture has cooled slightly, add the mozzarella balls. Place mixture into the bell pepper halves in a baking dish. Pour a little water in the dish, cover and bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the peppers are tender. Uncover and cook another 15 minutes to brown the tops. Enjoy! I also drizzled mine with a balsamic reduction.
Lemony Pesto (approximate since I just threw stuff in there!)
In a food processor place a hefty bunch of basil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, zest and juice of one lemon, 2 garlic cloves (or more if you like it garlicky like me!), salt and pepper, and about 3 tbsp of olive oil drizzled in at the end. I had a little of this left over, so I used it on roasted veggie sandwiches the next day and in an omelet, so yummy. Pesto makes the world go round! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
I especially like the last sentence of the quote below and I love to dance! Getting on stage or the dance floor with the music just takes me to another place, and I can actually just let go. Now if only I could make life my dance stage!
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.” -Satchel Paige
Check out these great giveaways from Megan’s Munchies, Angela, Keri, and Amanda Yum! There are so many great giveaways out there I can’t keep them all straight!
Are you a perfectionist? Let me know what you think about this conundrum of perfectionism, harmful or helpful?
April 19, 2009
seeing green
We found out that we are going to close on Monday! Woo-hoo! Let the madness begin. While we haven’t progressed in our packing endeavors, we did make a trip to drop off a load of furniture to the new place. I also bought some quarts of paint to test the colors out and make sure they will work.
At the moment I’m fighting off a viral URI (found out it’s not strep thank goodness!), but it’s been about 5 days and I’m hoping I’m half way through. Plus that lovely time of the month has greeted me. I guess they say when it rains it pours right? 🙂 I’m just looking through to the end of packing, moving, painting, flooring, getting settled, finishing finals and being able to . . . . RELAX!! I see a little bit of light, but it’s in the distance. Many thanks for all your kind words, I really appreciate it!
On to a lovely dinner . . .
Lemony Tofu Pesto Pasta
Yield
4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)
Ingredients
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes, halved and seeds squeezed out (I used TJ’s heirloom tomato mix)
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- Cooking spray
- 4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 2 cups tightly packed fresh baby spinach (about 1 1/4 ounces)
- 1 1/2 cups cubed reduced-fat silken tofu (about 6 ounces, I only had firm on hand and it worked well)
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan-Romano cheese blend
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- juice and zest from one medium lemon
- 4 cups hot cooked whole wheat spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked) We made fresh! **Be sure to save 1/2 cup pasta water to thin sauce if needed.
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°.
Place tomatoes, cut sides up, and mushrooms on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons oil; sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Bake at 450° for 7 minutes or until tender. Broil just until charred.
Combine remaining 2 teaspoons oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, spinach, tofu, and next 6 ingredients (through lemon) in a food processor; process until smooth.
Combine spinach mixture and cooked pasta in a large skillet; cook over low until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally and adding pasta water if needed. Gently stir in tomatoes, mushrooms and toasted pine nuts; sprinkle with a bit of parmesan. Enjoy! We had the Bridlewood Chard featured here along with it.
Here is the tower of pasta! We like to place our pasta on this drying rack until we get ready to boil it all. It helps it to rest and dries it out just a bit so they don’t all end up sticking to each other. It’s also great if you want to dry the pasta out all the way and save for later.
A little close up . . . this dish was very refreshing!
I haven’t forgot about the demo site giveaway!! I am planning to close the entry at the end of April and announce 5 winners with their choice of a 1GB hard drive or 3 iTunes downloads. So there’s still time, I’d love to hear your feedback on the site survey!
March 21, 2009
one fish, two fish, red fish, green fish . . .
I still have quite a bit of fish left in my freezer at the moment and it is literally packed to the gills! (no pun intended haha) I have to open the freezer door slowly for fear of sheer collapse of our perfectly orchestrated freezer stack. Do any of you guys have this problem too? . . . Oh the day when I can have a sub zero with a plethora of fridge and freezer space . . . uh-em back to reality!
Fridays are the days when Chris and I try make dinner and enjoy a little vino since we usually don’t get a chance to eat together much during the week. It seems like whenever he’s coming home, I’m leaving or when I’m leaving he’s coming home! We also found out recently that our offer on a foreclosure here has been accepted and we have opened escrow! Boy has it been a long process looking and dealing with short-sales. We started looking the end of January and we are just getting the ball rolling on one of our offers. I will have to post pictures of it because we are going to look again this weekend, just for fun! I am both excited and nervous for this new investment in our lives and hope everything works out.
On to the recipe . . .
Pesto Crusted Halibut
with Roasted Veggie Cous Cous
For the Pesto Paste:
-
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
-
Large bunches of fresh basil leaves (about 4 oz by weight)
-
1/4 cup roasty toasty pine nuts
-
1/4-1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
-
zest and juice of 1 1/2 medium lemons
-
2 tbsp of olive oil
-
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
-
salt and pepper
-
4 large halibut fillets (or you could use your favorite white fish)
For the cous cous:
-
couple glugs of olive oil (2 tbsp)
-
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
-
1 tbsp honey
-
garlic powder and herbes de provence (italian seasoning)
-
salt and pepper
-
1 lb. finely chopped carrots (about 2 1/4 cups)
-
1 lb. finely chopped zucchini (about 4 medium)
-
1 cup grapes, halved
-
1 1/2 cups whole wheat cous cous (you could certainly make quinoa too)
-
1 1/2 cups low-sodium veggie broth
-
1 roasted bell pepper, drained and chopped
-
1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Place the olive oil, balsamic, honey, garlic and spices into a zippy bag. Place the carrots, zucchini and grapes inside and let sit for about 5 minutes. Strain the veggies, reserving the marinade, and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 30-45 minutes, turning and tossing halfway through and basting with reserved marinade if they look dry. Just make sure the sugars don’t get too burned.
To make the pesto pulse everything, except the fish, in a food processor until a paste consistency forms. Slather this mixture on each fish fillet and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Turn the oven down to 350 and bake fish for 8-10 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook! Then you can broil for a few minutes to get it crusty. Alternatively, I’m sure you could grill it really quickly while slathering on the pesto.
While the veggies and fish are baking, boil the veggie broth; remove from heat, add cous cous, cover and let sit for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a large serving bowl.
When the veggies are done add them, along with the roasted bell pepper and goat cheese, to the cous cous and toss all together.
Serve the pesto-crusted halibut atop a nice scoop of the roasted veggie cous cous!
I had a bit of pesto paste leftover which I will use in a pasta dish, or as a slather for a roasted veggie sandwich, yum!
I also like to make a balsamic reduction to drizzle on pretty much anything: Just boil down about 2 cups of balsamic and a little honey gently, stirring frequently, until it gets thick and syrupy. It makes such a great accompaniment and presentation. Sorry, I’m in dire need of a better camera!
And for the vino spotlight . . .
Elderton’s 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay
First I have to tell you my beginnings with wine . . . When I first tasted wine (it was a red, bad idea), I couldn’t believe that people would actually drink this stuff! It was dry, pungent and burned my throat. I could hardly stand it. But, it’s funny, our palettes are very adaptable (as in the case with lower sodium) and can adjust to many different flavors, and like many things, wine can be an acquired taste for some. 
Chris and I have a lot of fun trying new wines and even went to Napa a few spring breaks ago to visit my aunt who works at some of the wineries there. Here is a picture of us touring Pride Winery – breathtaking views! Good memories!
When you first start out drinking wine, you have to start easy, and that means white. Rieslings were my absolute favorite starting out. Light, refreshing, sweet and easy to drink. Chardonnays are a more advanced white, usually heavier, and most have a bit of oak. I’m not a fan of oaky chards, I would much rather have butter (a fuller mouthfeel sensation created from using Malolactic fermentation). Now I really prefer red wines like red Zinfandel, and am currently trying to get more educated about different Italian varietals.
A great buttery chard for a great price would have to be Ravenswood (the winery in the first picture), although the one we tried at the winery is the best, but I can’t find it anywhere! This one doesn’t age too well, so I would get the youngest year you can find.
Unoaked chards are in a class by themselves. They are aged in steel rather than oak, so all you get is fresh, bright fruit essence that is not overpowered by heavy oak. The Elderton chard is a wonderful example of this. Bright, fruity and a little bit of mineral. It has a fresh pear taste; crisp with hints of peach and melon.
But, really the most important part about drinking any wine is that YOU like the flavor! And most great wines you can get for $15 and under.
What’s your favorite type of wine? I’d love to hear all about them!
